


A Brother in (His) Arms

by superblykeen



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, M/M, Vancouver Canucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superblykeen/pseuds/superblykeen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sheltered monk who experiences the world through words. A prince who is temporarily hiding from dangers of war. What brings them together is not so important as what keeps them together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brother in (His) Arms

**Author's Note:**

> I must have started this over a year ago. I was browsing some of the writing I had done in my Google Drive and found about 1/3 of this written. It felt like a waste to just abandon it, so I decided to buckle down and finish it. I just noticed that for some reason a lot of my fic ideas are Medieval AUs. The next fic that I'm working on is another Medieval AU, but I have promised myself to diversify in the future.

Brother Daniel was raised in the monastery. It was quite logical that he grew up to become a monk. God was good to him, and it was only right for him to pay back the church.

Brother Daniel doesn’t claim to be perfect. He occasionally (just occasionally) neglects his duties to bask in the calmness of nature. He is also easily charmed by stories of adventure from passing travellers, puzzled by tales of the supernatural, and provoked into deep thought by the works of famous philosophers; Brother Daniel is certain that many of these works would be deeply disapproved of by the monastery monks.

Nevertheless, all is well. The elder monks are patronizing but mean well. The gardeners and farmers of the land affectionately call him “Brother Dan.” He has secrets that make him smile. The monastery is a safe place.

But all those at the monastery know they are blissfully ignoring the inevitable. A great war has been infecting the land from the east. One morning, when one of the older monks looks out the window and sees a group of no less than ten horses, he knows that the monastery is safe no more.

 

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All the workers of the land are lined up along the footpath leading to the main gates. Within the monastery, the monks, especially the young ones, are eager and anxious to know the reason for the visit. At last, shouting is heard through the doors, as the horsemen speak to the monks in the overlooking towers.

A monk clumsily rushes down the steps of the tower. He exits through the door and approaches the head monk of the monastery and whispers in his ear.

“Let them in,” the head monk quietly enunciates. The gates creak open.

The monks move aside as the horses clop through. Two regally dressed men dismount their horses and advance forward, while the remaining horsemen calm their steeds.

The head monk welcomes the men and guides them into the monastery. Two young acolytes lead the guests to the stables, and the elder monks dismiss the remaining bystanders.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

Amidst the bustle and gossip that arrive with the guests, Brother Daniel takes the afternoon to enjoy one of his secret possessions, a reference book of strange creatures that he obtained in a trade with a travelling merchant. Of course, it is forbidden for monks to own indulgent possessions such as these (especially when some of the elder monks find them blasphemous), but Brother Daniel is very careful. He hides his possessions in the shed in the courtside garden.

After Brother Daniel retrieves his book, he climbs up a watchtower in a far corner of the farmlands and delves in. His afternoon passes by uninterrupted, and as the sun begins to set, he shuts his book, and climbs down the tower. Under the reddening sky, Brother Daniel walks back to the gardening shed to hide his book.

As walks towards the shed, he is suddenly startled by the sound of footsteps behind him and promptly drops his book. He turns around and sees a tall and thin man. His hair is blond and his eyes are expressionless yet wise-looking. Brother Daniel is at a loss for what to do, worried that his secret will be exposed to the elder monks.

The thin man walks past Brother Daniel and picks up the book, dusting it off. As he hands it back, he gives him a thoughtful look, as if Brother Daniel is a face to remember, and walks back toward the monastery. Brother Daniel hurriedly slips the book in its hiding place and runs back before he is chastised.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

An unfortunate invasion has spread from the east, and Prince Alexander is sent to secure the western provinces. Some way along his journey, he receives word from his elder brothers to stay put for fear that war would destroy the whole royal family all at once. And so Prince Alexander finds himself seeking refuge at a quaint monastery among the western farmlands.

The monks, surprisingly kindly, do not hesitate to shelter the young prince, and offer him the haven for as long as required.

Prince Alexander spends his days curiously wandering the grounds, and certainly does not expect himself to stumble upon a timid monk reading secular stories in secrecy among the crops. He would never forget the title of the book. ”Legends of Supernatural Creatures and How to Protect Yourself.” How delightfully whimsical.

It is an interesting encounter, but Prince Alexander does not think much of it until days later, when he is already bored of spending time within the confines of the monastery, but has been forbidden by his knights from straying too far.

Prince Alexander walks to the same gardening shed in the middle of the afternoon and seats himself on the ground, waiting for the monk to show up.

The monk shows up, but is understandably startled by Prince Alexander’s presence.

“A-are you lost, Sire?”

Prince Alexander stands up, brushing off his trousers.

“No, I am not, Brother…”

“Daniel, Sire.”

“Brother Daniel.”

They stand there for a few seconds until Prince Alexander remembers his question.

“Do you remember a few days ago when I met you here…”

Brother Daniel pales.

“No, no, I’m not going to tell anyone. It’s just...I’m a little tired of religious texts. Do you have anything you could lend me?”

Brother Daniel looks down, and sways a little before he meets Prince Alexander’s eyes and motions into the gardening shed.

It turns out that Brother Daniel has an absolute treasure trove of a library. Books on the most obscure knights of history, old wives’ tales and superstitions, cookbooks, and anything that one would hardly associate with a man of religion.

Choosing a book of pastoral poetry, Prince Alexander goes to the nearest garden bench and seats himself.

Brother Daniel joins him with his own selection, a reference guide for herbs of the land.

“I’m sorry, Sire, you never told me your name.”

“Alexander.”

“Alexander....the prince?”

Prince Alexander nods his head, eyes not leaving his page.

“I apologize, Highness, I didn’t recognize you before-”

“It’s alright, you wouldn’t have known my face anyway.”

Prince Alexander shows no sign of engaging, so Brother Daniel cautiously opens his own book and begins to read.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

Their regular meeting spot is a bench in the courtside garden.

“Do you think you could ever slay a dragon?”

Prince Alexander is lounging against a tree stump on the ground , and raises his eyes, unsmiling, from the book on his lap. “Are you implying that I, a royal prince, would not be able to slay a dragon?”

“I think you underestimate how fearsome dragons are, Highness. They have fire in their breaths, strong jaws with sharp biting teeth, and their skin would likely be impenetrable to most weapons of man.”

“Let me rephrase my question. Are you implying that I, a royal prince with vast amounts of disposable money and the finest blacksmiths and armourers in my employ, would not be able to slay a dragon?”

Brother Daniel shakes his head at Prince Alexander’s deadpan delivery, and returns to his book of fairy tales. Prince Alexander, too, resumes his reading, but not without a quick glance at the shy smile of amusement on Brother Daniel’s face.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

“When I was young, I fell into a pond and almost drowned.”

Prince Alexander is lying on the bench, his boots up on Brother Daniel’s lap. Brother Daniel shifts his weight and closes his novel, keeping his finger tucked in the pages.

“How did you fall in the first place?”

“I was feeding the ducks. A bit too enthusiastically. I was little back then, so I was launching the food into the pond with all the force that my little body could muster up.”

“And you fell in?”

“And I fell in.”

Prince Alexander close his eyes, as if he was finished his story. Brother Daniel sighed, albeit fondly, and continued, “How did you get out?”

“My older brother pulled me out of the pond.”

“Prince Daniel?”

Prince Alexander opens his eyes.

“Why do you think it would be Daniel?”

“He has the same name as me, so he must be virtuous and heroic.”

Prince Alexander eyes Brother Daniel suspiciously, but Brother Daniel is barely concealing his mischievous smile.

“I’m not completely sure who pulled me out. I was barely conscious at the time, and Henrik and Daniel have the same face anyway.”

“The elder princes are twins?”

“Yes, they are.”

Prince Alexander moves onto his side, feet still in Brother Daniel’s lap. Brother Daniel shifts his weight, thighs sore from Prince Alexander’s heavy boots.

“When I was older, I asked my brothers about it, but Henrik said that Daniel pulled me out, and Daniel said that Henrik pulled me out.”

“Perhaps they didn’t want to take the blame.”

“I think they tried to confuse me so that I would be nice to both of them.”

“Were you?”

“Was I what?”

“Nice to both of them?”

“I was extremely attached to my older brothers when I was younger. I don’t think they needed to play those sort of tricks on me.”

Brother Daniel nods his head in acknowledgement and looks down at his book.

“I wonder what it would be like to have brothers.”

“I thought you had a lot of brothers. Everybody who lives here is called Brother”

“You know what I mean, Highness.”

“Yes, I do.”

Prince Alexander closes his eyes and smiles, proud of his clever joke.

 

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“What is the furthest place you have ever travelled?”

“I was in a march, about eight day’s ride west of this place. My brother sent me there to speak to the marquess.”

“What is it like there?”

Prince Alexander leans back on the bench, in deep thought.

“Probably not much different from it is here, to be honest.”

Brother Daniel looks disappointed, probably hoping for a more intriguing answer.

“Then tell me about your home.”

“My home...It is colder there. ”

“It can be cold here too.”

“But at home it is cold for much longer. It is only warm for a few months every year. There is almost always a chill in the air.”

“But it is home.”

“Yes, it is home.”

A moment passes before Prince Alexander sits up, only to shift onto his side and lean his head onto Brother Daniel’s lap.

“My older brothers are there, so it is home. Even if the castle is raided of all its riches, it will always be home.”

“What if your brothers left the castle and fled to safety in another town?”

Prince Alexander pauses for a long time. So long, that Brother Daniel is afraid that he has upset the prince, and prepares to change the topic of conversation.

“Home would be wherever my brothers are.”

They sit in silence for the rest of the the cloudy morning, Brother Daniel’s thumb brushing soothing circles on Prince Alexander’s neck.

 

\----------------------------------------------------

 

As the invasion becomes increasingly concentrated in the east, Prince Alexander’s brothers send for his assistance.  

That is when Prince Alexander finds himself in a dilemma. At any idle time, he seeks the quiet presence of Brother Daniel. At every meal, he wonders what vegetables and grains the other is eating while he feasts on a meal quite literally fit for royals. During the chilly nights, instead of wondering about how his brothers are coping back at the castle, he worries if Brother Daniel is comfortably warm in his own quarters. Prince Alexander feels silly for wanting Brother Daniel’s constant companionship.

To ask Brother Daniel to come with him would be to selfishly ask him to uproot his life at the safe monastery where had lived for over twenty years, and to move to a war-torn part of the land, with no guarantee that Prince Alexander could even keep him safe among the political carnage of aristocracy. Prince Alexander isn’t even so sure he could lead a safe journey back to the west, with the land littered with bandits and mercenaries looking for the bounty on a royal’s head.

But he has never met anybody so genuinely willing to speak with him. As a royal, many of his friends were children of political allies, or other nobles looking to gain rank in the eyes of the king and queen.

No one has ever cared about who Prince Alexander’s favourite knight was, or how many times he has fallen off his horse in practice. And in the same vein, Prince Alexander has never been so interested in someone else. He wants to know Brother Daniel’s favourite hiding spots in the monastery, he wants to hear all of Brother Daniel’s dreams, and he wants to see the smile on Brother Daniel’s face when he is within reach of those dreams.

 

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“If you came with me, I would take care of you.”

Brother Daniel’s fingers tense up around the edges of the book. His eyes leave the words, but focus on an indefinite point among the flowers in the garden.

Prince Alexander thinks Brother Daniel’s frown to be unfitting among a garden of such lovely flora. He joins Brother Daniel on the bench and looks right into his eyes, even if those eyes would not look back.

“I would only be slowing you and your knights down.”

“But you would not be averse to travelling with me.”

Brother Daniel puts down his book and presses his face into his palms.

Prince Alexander feels badly about putting Brother Daniel in this situation. He knows he should have brought up the topic more carefully with Brother Daniel. But the stress of delving back into war has made it difficult for Prince Alexander to be patient these days.

“Why do you want me to travel with you?”

Brother Daniel looks at Prince Alexander through his fingers.

Prince Alexander usually speaks to Brother Daniel with gentle words, and already regrets his growing frankness. His next words need to be chosen carefully.

“Do you remember when I told you that my home is with my brothers?”

Prince Alexander wraps fingers around Brother Daniel’s hand, moving it away from his face. Hunched down, Prince Alexander looks up into Brother Daniel’s eyes, this time looking back at him.

“Would it be so bad if I wanted you to be part of my home too?”

Prince Alexander brushes his thumb inside Brother Daniel’s palm, hoping to calm him down. They had lost their appetite for the books anyway, with Prince Alexander breaking the news of his return to the castle earlier in their session.

They sit in silence for much of the afternoon. But instead of a comfortable silence under a warm sun, this silence is shrouded in unease under a cloudy sky. It seems as though the sun felt it inappropriate to show its face at a time like this.

Brother Daniel is torn between the comfort of his home, and the chance to see the world that he only been able to read about in his books. There is so much he would leave behind, and yet there is so much he would forgo by staying at the monastery. There is so much to think about and Brother Daniel does not even know where to begin.

“Brother Daniel, I am sorry for putting you in a spot like this. But I must leave in four days’ time at dawn. I hope to see you at the stables when I leave.”

Brother Daniel is back to focusing on the shrubbery outside of the gazebo. Prince Alexander places a hand on Brother Daniel’s back, and leans in to press his lips briefly at Brother Daniel’s temple. Rubbing Brother Daniel’s shoulder blade, he stands up and leaves the garden. 

Brother Daniel stays in the garden until the sun dips below the horizon and a gardener kindly advises him to turn in for the night lest he catch a nasty cold.

 

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The next few days are dreadful. Prince Alexander is stuck in a room with his knights. He loves his knights, but planning the perfect, discreet route back home is tiring work. He barely has any time to eat, let alone seek out his dear monk. (He isn’t quite sure when he started to refer to Brother Daniel as “his” monk.)

Two days before his departure, Prince Alexander already feels an anxious unrest in his stomach. He fears that Brother Daniel is avoiding him, too polite to reject him to his face.

By the day before his departure, Prince Alexander has already come to accept that he may never see Brother Daniel again, and has done his best to make peace with that fact. Still, in addition to his brothers, Prince Alexander may consider Brother Daniel to be one of his favourite people in the world, and promises himself that when the war is over, this monastery despite its distance from his castle, will be one of the first places he will visit. (He cannot afford to think that he would not survive the war, or worse, that the war would never cease.)

After all, if Brother Daniel does not wish to see him, Prince Alexander will not trouble him. But seeing the monastery would be the next best thing to seeing Brother Daniel.

 

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Prince Alexander and his knights roll out of their cots early in the morning of their departure. The sun has not yet risen, and their eyes are barely open, but preparations must be made.

Two of the knights leave to gather rations from the kitchen that the monks have graciously set aside for their trip, and the rest have left to pack their horses.

The uneasiness remains in Prince Alexander’s stomach, but it will fade in time (he hopes).

As he packs his belongings onto his horse, he hears a series of strange clangs. He looks over, and finds a flushed Brother Daniel, picking some small bottles from the ground into a small sack.

As he stands, Prince Alexander cannot think of anything to say, and the two stare at each other as one of the elder monks approaches the stable.

“Brother Daniel has expressed his interest in aiding the war efforts in the east. All the brothers here are trained in medicine, so I believe Brother Daniel may be of some help to your party. That is, if you would allow him to travel with you.” 

Finally coming to understand the situation, Prince Alexander straightens his back, clears his throat, and diplomatically thanks the elder monk. After all, this monastery had provided a safe haven to him and his knights without question. Had it not been for the kind monks, Prince Alexander may have found himself in a strange land with an arrow through his chest by now. Prince Alexander feels guilty for providing nothing in return, but he promises with his words the debt that is owed to this monastery once the kingdom has been restored to order.

After the elder monk leaves, Brother Daniel prepares a horse for himself, carefully storing his important medicinal herbs in his sac. He does not say a word, even after they have mounted their horses and are ready to face the day ahead of them.

As they leave the monastery grounds, Brother Daniel’s horse travels a little slower, and Brother Daniel gazes wistfully at the lands he had known all his life. Brother Daniel always had sad-looking eyes, but for once, Prince Alexander notices a hint of tears at the corners.

They must make use of the time that they have, and Prince Alexander instructs the group to gallop quickly through the farmlands.

As they enter the forest, they slow down their pace, wary of any hidden traps.

Prince Alexander slows his horse down to be next to Brother Daniel, in the middle of the pack.

“I’m sorry you had to leave your home.”

“It was a decision I made. You don’t have to be sorry.”

“Still, I am sorry.”

At this point it’s clear that Brother Daniel had been crying. The corners of his eyes are red and his eyes are swollen. He is anxious, hands clutching at the reins of his horse and cautiously jerking his head at every unfamiliar sound.

“I am sad about leaving my home. And frightened. Very frightened. But there are some things in the world that I would like to see for myself, not just read about in my books. And even if I am afraid, if I am with you, I think that I would be a little less afraid.”

Just as Prince Alexander had found a piece of home in his dear monk, Brother Daniel felt safe and confident with Prince Alexander at his side.

“I’m serious about what I said before. About taking care of you.”

Brother Daniel turns to face the prince. Even with his reddened eyes, Brother Daniel’s timid smile is Prince Alexander’s favourite.

“I know, Highness.”


End file.
